Prom night
by OneWhoCharms
Summary: Sindria academy was one of the most esteemed educational facilities in the world, their graduates went onto become world leaders, philanthropists, and all around high achievers. They came into the academy, bundles of potential, and graduated ready to change the world. However during that particular week, the only thing on everyone's mind was the upcoming school dance. -ON HAIATUS-
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Now I have a personal weakness for high school au's, and while on the whole Magi can rub me the wrong way sometimes its got some great ships. So this is just a short little drabble for me to showcase my favourites.**

 **some pairings include; jukou, hakumor, casali and others to come.**

 **And as you can probably guess, I do not own Magi or any of its characters.**

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Sindria academy was one of the most prestigious educational facilities in the world, the students who were accepted ranged from child prodigies to children of world leaders, to potential laden rising stars that no one else would have noticed. They came to academy bundles of potential and they graduated ready to change the world.

However during this particular couple of weeks the only thing on everyones mind was the upcoming school dance.

There were three essential parts to the school dance experience; the night itself, preparations, and of course, asking who you were going to go with.

This was the dilemma Ren Hakuryuu found himself in two weeks before the big night.

At this current point in time he was sitting at his usual seat in the cafeteria. He briefly lifted his eyes from the food he'd been pushing around his plate to cut a glance at the table across from where he was sitting to look at his cousin Kouha eating lunch with his three girlfriends. They were happy in their own little bubble, while Jinjin, Junjun and Reirei fawned over Kouha like they always did, he sat a little more upright, talking with them languidly and even slapping away their hands when he felt like they were getting to affectionate. When the decision had been made for the three youngest Rens, who had been homeschooled all their lives, would start attending Sindria academy, Kouha had been thoroughly, strictly and harshly lectured by his older brothers that his usual behaviour would not be accepted outside the house.

From that point on he had acted as cold and reserved at school as was possible for him, behaviour that was quite the opposite from what Hakuryuu considered to be his true nature. That being said Kouha still managed to scare the crap out of all his classmates, not that he seemed to care.

"So you going to go?" asked a feminine voice from across the table.

Hakuryuu looked away from Kouha and in front of him to Kougyoku, his youngest cousin and the other member of the Ren family who had been enrolled in the academy along with him. Like him she was eating a homemade lunch (did it still count as homemade if you had a personal chef?) from a tupperware box, and drinking tea from a thermos cap, the tails of her strawberry hair that hadn't been tied up in her usual loops, fell like ribbons against the light blue of her swim team jacket. Everyone else in the cafeteria including him had shrugged off the extra layers of their uniforms due to the days warm weather, but since she'd been made captain of the swim team Kougyoku had taken to wearing that jacket like armour every time she went out in public.

"Sorry?" he asked,

"Are you going?" she asked again insistently,

"...Going where?"

An irritated looked sprung onto her face as she scrunched her nose and furrowed her eyebrows together, he laughed awkwardly and offered an apologetic smile, apparently his inner musings had muted him to serious topic of discussion on Kougyoku's part. "The _dance!_ Are you going?"

At that he pulled his lips into a nervous line, "Well, uh, isn't everyone?"

Kougyoku's expression did a 180 and her eyes were suddenly shinning cheerfully, "Really?" she squeaked "That's great! Who are you going with? Have you asked anyone yet? Has anyone asked you?"

Hakuryuu dropped his utensils and started waving his hands in front of him awkwardly, "Uh well, n-no one's asked me yet... and uh, I ha-haven't quite-"

"That's nerd speak for 'he hasn't worked up the guts to ask out Morgianna yet'" said Judar as he appeared out of nowhere behind Kougyoku, she let out a tiny yelp of surprise as he leaned his chest against her back a reached an arm over her shoulder to pluck the peach from her lunch.

As he felt the heat creeping up his neck, Hakuryuu wondered for what had to be the millionth time why he was friends with this guy.

Judar wasn't technically a member of the Ren family, but he'd lived with them for as long as Hakuryuu could remember, and was treated like one of the family regardless. He also had not been officially enrolled in this school along with Hakuryuu, Kouha and Kougyoku, but in their first week he'd shown up out of the blue because... well, like most of Judar's reasonings, it was a mystery to Hakuryuu.

Said mystery, threw himself into the seat next to Kougyoku, juices dripping down his chin as he bit into the peach, lounging like a cat.

"Morgiana?!" Kogyoku whined, not because she didn't like Morgiana, actually the two of them had never been alone together before so they'd never felt the need to forge a relationship, content just being the friends of each others friends.

Hakuryuu jumped forward in his seat a little, a panicked look on his face, "Don't say that so loud!"

Kougyoku scowled at him a little bit, she hadn't been _that_ loud, and the cafeteria was swarming with noise as usual, no one was paying attention to them. That didn't stop Hakuryuu from twisting his head around to look across the room to where Morgiana, Aladdin and Alibaba were sitting together. The girl in question was siting with her back to him, while Alibaba and Aladdin conversed animatedly in front of her.

Where his cousins hair was red like wine, or strawberries, Morgiana's red mane was like a blazing sunrise, contrasting nicely with her warm brown skin. She was a little on the smaller side, stature wise, but her arms and were well and muscled from her career as the ace of Sindria's Martial Arts team. He imagined the look she might have had on her face at that moment, probably her usual calm and passive expression, but when he saw her shoulders twitch slightly he imagined the quirk of her lips as she let out a small laugh and let herself be outwardly happy for a moment. Like back when...

"Oh you're not going to do this to yourself again, are you?" Kougyoku's voice snapped his out of his thoughts and he turned back to face his cousin, who was now looking at him with a concerned if slightly sad expression.

"What do mean?" he asked,

"It's just that last time- I mean, when things didn't... that is..." Kougyoku was slowly shrinking into her jacket as she fumbled with her words, trying to find the right way to phrase it without offending Hukuryuu, all the while worrying about doing just that.

Seeing how his cousin was torturing herself (again) Hakuryuu let out a sigh before telling her. "You don't have to worry about me."

Kougyoku's eyes perked up and she straightened a bit from where she'd unconsciously been leaning into Judar's side while he was continuing to pick food out of her lunch (carefully avoiding the vegetables), "Oh?"

She had of course been referring to the generally unspoken of incident that had taken place over summer, when Hakuryuu had confessed his feelings to Morgiana and she'd rejected him. He fought to keep his face neutral as he remembered standing on the beach with her, the feeling of her hand in his, and the tears that had welled up in the corners of her eyes...

"We better not have to. The way you moped around last time was pathetic enough, I have to watch that again it won't be half as funny." Judar said with his usual wicked grin.

Hakuryuu scowled at him while Kougyoku squawked and began shaking her hands in denial. "No, no, he doesn't mean that. We just don't want to see you get hurt again."

"Because it was pathetic." Judar insisted,

"Because we care about you."

"Because you're a loser."

Kougyoku finally turned around and started swatting at Judar while she reprimanded him on his lack of empathy, the boy whom Hakuryuu was 80% sure was a psychopath in the making just grabbed her hands in his and chuckled manically at her agitation.

Satisfied that the topic had been dropped, Hakuryuu looked away from the two in front of him and continued to eat his lunch as he once again retreated into his thoughts.

Unaware that a pair of red eyes across the room were watching the way his shoulders slacked and was imagining the fair away look his eyes were probably getting at that moment.

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 **Thanks for reading.**

 **If you would please be so kind as to follow, favourite and review, and I'll see you guys next time~**

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Ghjjk


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again my lovely readers~**

 **Before we start this new chapter I'd like to thank Otakulover21, Cindrebunneh, and AkatsukiSakuraOddness for following and favouriting,**

 **And thank you to Cindrebunneh for reviewing, look forward to what hakumor have in store**

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Aladdin looked up from his textbook, and peeked at Titus and Sphinctus across the table. They were having they're usually study group, this week at Titus' house. Aladdin liked Titus' house, it was big, brightly lit, and expensively decorated. But the thing he really appreciated was how the walls were all covered in family photos.

Pictures of a small Titus hugging their sister Marga when she had been a toddler. Their mother Scherezade, looking radiant even as she lay in a hospital bed, holding the both of them as newborns.

Pictures of their father Muu and his Sister Myron popped out amongst the rest, wherever they hung on the wall, thanks to the siblings bright red hair.

The picture that had revealed to Aladdin that Muu and Ren Kouen had been friends in college.

Pictures of birthdays, graduations, Christmas's, family dinners.

Aladdins favourite though, was of Muu and Scherezades wedding portrait, despite the train of her dress touching the floor, Muu was holding the blonde woman (fittingly) bridal style, the red decorations framing her face melded in with her husbands hair. Scherezade had a smile so wide that her eyes were squeezed shut, but like in all photos of the couple, Muu was gazing adoringly at his wife.

Aladdin liked this photo because of how similar the way Muu looked at Scherezade was to the way his mother looked at his father in the few photos he had of them.

"What subject are you guys on now?" Aladdin asked his friends. The three of them sometimes had a habit of going through their work at odd speeds, being three of the few people who's ciriculums were made up entirely of AP classes, little more could be expected.

"History." Sphintus replied flatly.

"I finished five minutes ago, and now I'm helping Sphintus with his history." Titus added on in a sing song voice, earning a growl from Sphintus.

Titus just poked him in the arm with the blunt end of their pencil, "If you hate my help so much why don't you just put the energy you put into biology into the rest of your classes."

"Because I'm gonna be a doctor!" Sphintus threw his arms into the air, causing the gold bangles around his wrist to jangle noisily. "Everyone knows that! So why shouldn't I just focus on the important stuff!"

Both Titus and Aladdin rolled their eyes, this was a conversation they'd had before and neither felt like repeating it now. When Sphintus eventually realised that he wasn't getting the expected reaction he pouted down at his paper, Aladdin noticed however that he kept glancing over at Titus, eventually he gripped his history textbook in his hands and without looking up, stubbornly and quickly said "I don't hate your help." Before slamming his face into his textbook to hide his expression.

Which was a shame because he then missed the dusting of pink that bloomed along Tius' cheeks.

 **xxxXXXxxx**

It was already dark out by the time Alibaba got home. After school Morgiana's older brother Masrur had driven them both to their group therapy. Morgiana had offered to give him a lift back to his house, but he'd smiled and said it wasn't too far a walk.

And it wasn't too far a walk from the Saluja household. But once their car had driven out of sight he'd started the two mile walk in the opposite direction.

He hadn't told any of his friends from school that he wasn't living at his brothers house anymore, he wasn't sure why. No, that wasn't true he just didn't want to admit the reason to himself. There were a lot of things Alibaba didn't want to admit.

Once he made it to the apartment block, he picked up the mail and added it to the grocery bag he had picked up on the way. After scaling the stairs and forcing his shoulder against the stiff front door, he immediately felt the weight of the grocery bags being lifted from his arms. Short for her age as she was, Miriam certainly made up for it with energy.

"Welcome home!" She cheered, dancing out of Alibaba's reach when he tried to take the bags off her.

Miriam set the bags on the table next to the kitchenette and started unpacking the contents, taking pleasure in certain ones, "I want to try out a new recipe." She told Alibaba as he joined her in the 'kitchen'.

"It's my turn to cook tonight." He reminded her, household chores were shared between the three of them, and since Alibaba's group sessions meant he couldn't take shifts at work after school like usual, he did the cooking and cleaning on Wednesday nights.

"But I'm so much better at it than you." She pouted, ever since Miriam's cafe job had promoted her from cleaning to helping out in the kitchens she had discovered a passion for the culinary arts, creating new dishes was her favourite way of expressing it, and Alibaba and Cassim were her favourite guinea pigs.

Alibaba pushed her away from the counter by her head, "Go do your homework."

She begrudgingly went to her room, making sure to call out "You know I'm right!" Before closing the door.

With a roll of his eyes Alibaba got to work, Cassim usually came home late, either because he worked an extra shift or... other reasons that they didn't talk about. He threw various things into a pot and set the stew to simmer, he set the oven timer and threw himself onto the couch, he was used to coming home tired from work or school but therapy left him drained. With a sigh he started picking at the school crest sewn onto the front of his sweater. He remembered the first time Cassim had scene him waring it, he'd thrown his usual taunts and jibes, asking if it felt good to be hanging out with 'his own kind'. That was when he'd still been living with his father. When his brothers had kicked him out a week after the funeral and he'd shown up in the neighbourhood they'd grown up in together, a tear stained wreck and with two bags to his name, Cassim had hung that uniform up in the wardrobe they now shared without hesitation.

Half an hour later the door opened again, even though he'd been half asleep by that point Alibaba immediately sat up, "Cassim!"

"Yeah, yeah it's me." He grumbled, he was massaging the heel of his palm against his forehead, "I have got such a headache."

Alibaba winced, "Sorry." He said in more indoors voice.

Cassim didn't respond, just shucked his back pack onto the floor and thudded down onto the middle of the couch, and even though Alibaba was pushed into the corner their knees still knocked against each other's. Cassim had his eyes closed so he didn't see Alibaba poignantly not looking at the fleeting touch.

"I-I'll uh, go see if we have some aspirin." Alibaba stuttered as he made to get up, but was stopped when he suddenly felt Cassim's hand on his thigh.

Alibaba stiffened at the sudden contact, he looked over to Cassim but the other boy had his other arm draped across his eyes, "No." He groaned, his headache most have been worse than expected.

"Um, well, what should I-" Alibaba's question was cut off when Cassim shifted his body so his feet were up on the other end of the couch and his head was pillowed in Alibaba's lap.

Cassim didn't open his eyes but he folded his hands on top of his stomach, "Just," Cassim's voice was quiet and serious, the same tone he used when Alibaba or Miriam asked him about where he went when he skipped classes or where that extra money had come from, "stay."

Funnily enough Alibaba was more comfortable with this more full on contact, he had been very familiar with touch as a child, he'd cuddled with his mother a lot, and when young Cassim and Miriam had moved in with them, the three of them had slept pressed together in the same bed. So Alibaba relaxed, he smiled, and he occupied his fingers with feeling the texture of Cassim's dreads, they'd been in this position before, sometimes Cassim would start absently tugging on the ends of Alibaba's hair even though he'd been keeping it short lately.

They were both content to stay like that until the oven timer went off and reminded them they were both hungry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again lovelie, life is being a real nuckulavee at the moment so it might be a while before I get the chance to post something again, so I hope you all enjoy this chapter for now.**

 **as usual thank you to lulucutie12 for following and reviewing, and Haiiro-Inu-ChanXxX for following and favouriting.**

 **obviously I don't own magi ;)**

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Morgianna liked to think she had a pretty good understanding of love.

It had taken her a while to gain this understanding, but everything in life was a journey wasn't it?

Her favourite way of describing affection was the greek words she had been taught in english class.

She knew _Storge,_ the instinctual affection of familial love through her parents and older brother. She knew it when she remembered her mother slinging her coat around Morgianna protectively as they took their first steps into the country on that rainy day, her father kissing her head with a warm smile when he finally came home from working his laborious hours at the dead end job he'd been forced to take. Both of her parents forced to sweat and bleed to scrape together enough money to feed their children and warm their thin walled apartment because no decent place was willing to hire two people who'd had the word 'refugee' stamped across their being. She knew it in the strength her brother Masrur had taught her by example when her parents had left them alone after dying in a car crash when she was nine. She'd known Storge before she even really knew what love was, it had been set into her soul for as long as she could remember.

She knew _Philia,_ the friendly affection of platonic love through first through her brothers group of friends, the first time he'd brought them home she thought she might go blind at the sight of them. They were all so bright and open with their laughter and other expressions, Sharkan and Yamuriha with their intimate bickering, Drakon with his knight like sense of nobility, Hinahoho and his wife Rurumu who only came around sometimes because of their children, and of course there was Sinbad and Ja'far who were like the sun and moon personified. And when Sinbad had opened up his school and Masrur had taken a job there as gym teacher she'd made her first friends in Aladdin and Alibaba.

That first day she'd been so petrified of being so surrounded by people, she had no idea how to approach any of them. Aladdin had tried to get to know her regardless, he'd been patient with her slowness to react to his eager questions and invitations, he'd endeared himself to her within that first week. Alibaba hadn't been quite as instantaneous, her first impression of him was that he was a little try hard, a little unsure of himself, but he was Aladdin's best friend so she was happy to spend time with him. But then her therapist told the group that one of his other patients had made enough progress to move onto group therapy, Alibaba had walked through the door with a sheepish look on his face and the two of them had locked gazes. They'd shared their heart brakes with each other and she forged a connection with him that she'd never felt with anyone else.

She had struggled with _Eros,_ romantic and passionate love. The first part of her struggle came with the romance, for a long time she suffered a misconception on what romantic love was supposed to feel like because of Jamil and all the things she'd let him do because he'd said he loved her. It had been Aladdin and Alibaba who had helped her realize what a toxic mess she was caught up in, that the words "I love you" and "you're mine" weren't the same thing, that it didn't matter how much he apologised afterwards she was to good for anyone who would bruise her. As dark as that chapter of her life had been she still thanked the rukh that it had been her friends who were there for her, especially since she was sure that if Masrur had found out the police would have never found Jamil's body.

The second part of her struggle had come with the passion, which she knew was just a censored way of saying sexual. Morgiana had never been big on touching... or perhaps it was more accurate to say she wasn't big on skin contact. Her brother wasn't one for physical affection aside from the odd hug or pat on the head but she had always been comfortable with that because it was him. Alibaba and Aladdin had picked up on that early on in their friendship and so they'd never tried to do anything that might make her uncomfortable, but they knew it was fine to reciprocate any contact she initiated. Mostly her issues with sex were in those days when everyone had been talking about their relationships, unappealing descriptions of long and heated kissing sessions, anticipation of inviting people over when their parents weren't home that had gone over her head. It had made her feel like she was lagging behind everyone else, it was a common fact that sex sold, sexualisation was everywhere you looked when it came to entertainment, so who was this weirdo that didn't want to make love?

It wasn't until one health class, they'd been discussing sex ed. And had finally started talking about the different orientations when she first heard the term asexual. The relief had flooded her system to finally have a certified word to justify how she felt.

So that was three out of four.

And then the Ren's had come to Sindria academy.

 **XXXXX**

It had been about a third of the way into softmore year when the three of them were first spotted in the hallways, Kouha, Kougyoku and Hakuryuu Ren had ensnared the attention of the entire school the minute they stepped onto campus.

The Ren family had always been rather secular, unless you worked with (or more likely _for)_ them you'd probably never met a member of the infamous family. So when three of it's younger members had appeared in the uniforms of a school that had been founded by a man their older brother and family infamously didn't care for, the rumours began spring up like weeds.

 _Every member of the Ren family who's old enough had served time commanding black ops units in the military, and the ones who weren't spent their summer vacations in the jungles being trained in Guerrilla ware fare._

 _The Ren's were actually a mafia family and the leisure complex they ran was just a front._

 _Ren Kouha was serial killer and his older brother Koumei disposed of the bodies by using them in his mad scientist experiments._

 _Their ward Judar was a junkie._ (Morgiana knew for a fact this wasn't true but when you knew the truth of his situation it was still upsetting.)

 _Ren Hakuei was renowned supermodel in the eastern hemisphere._

 _The Ren's were actually Korean._

The three of them had stuck together in the first week, not really interacting with anyone else. Then Kouha had started dating his girlfriends and Kougyoku had made the swim team and the alien nature that had been surrounding them started to fade away. And then she'd been partnered with Hakuryuu in biology. Out of the three of them Hakuryuu had been the most visually distinct, not only with his black hair compared to his cousins red hair, but also the burn scar covering the right side of his face and his prosthetic arm.

Her first impression of him was that he was polite and respectful, to quiet for his own good, and awkward in a way that fondly reminded her of Alibaba. They started talking, in the moments before class started and in those times you could get away with whispering during lessons, they'd walked to and from the class together, sometimes he ate lunch at her table, Kougyoku and Alibaba had become fast friends at this point, and eventually he even invited her over to his house for study sessions, and slowly they got to know each other. It was the visits to his house where Morg felt she got a real understanding for Hakuryuu and the rest of his family, seeing Kouha and Kougyoku spar with wooden swords, their movements were quick and their blows were harsh but all the while they carried out a casual conversation, seeing Koumei perched like a bird at the end of a table covered in papers and accounting books, seeing Judar reveal some of his good nature from beneath his snark towards Hakuryuu, but especially seeing the delight he took in Kougyoku's wealth of expressions after he'd whispered something in her ear, seeing Kouen stand like a sentinel at the head of his family, Morgiana wondered if the weight on his shoulders had gotten any lighter since the day he took it upon himself when his father had died, but it looked like some of that weight was eased when Hakuei offered him her calm smiles.

After almost a month together Morgiana shared the story with him about how she'd come to this country and lost her parents, and he'd confided in her his memoiries of his mother starting the house fire that had taken his arm and his parents.

Then came the summer when herself, Alibaba and Aladdin had been invited up to the Ren's beach house for a week away. The first few days had been wonderful, Alibaba taught Kouha and Hakuryuu how to fish, Morgiana and Kougyoku had spent most of the day swimming at speeds none of the others could match, and Morgiana felt like the two of them were actually becoming close, Aladdin sat on the beach chewing on watermelon slices while Judar crouched in the shade and pelted him with ice cubes.

On the night before they were going to head home the seven of them had made plans to set of fireworks on the beach front. The sun had started to set while they were setting up the rockets, Hakuryuu had brushed his fingers against Morgiana's palm and asked her to walk with him for a while. The two of them walked until they were out of sight of everyone else, Morgiana held Hakuryuu's real hand so that he could feel her beside him.

"Morgiana..." he began saying,

She looked over at him with a questioning hum and waited for him to speak again.

"I- Your-" he swallowed nervously and fixed his gaze on the sand, "I think..."

Morgianna gave his hand a squeeze, and when he looked up at her she smiled as encouragingly as she could, Hakuryuu was prone to biting his tongue and fretting about what others would think about the things he said, she'd been doing her best to break him of this habit.

He squeezed her hand back and turned to face her, "When I first came to Sindria I was prepared to be a complete pariah, I'd never really had the chance to socialise with people outside my family before and... well, I knew how I looked." His eyes fell to his feet again so Morgianna grabbed his other hand and bent her head to catch his eyes again. Once she caught him in her gaze he seemed to regain some confidence. "But then I met you, and you didn't care about any of that, you were kind to me, you helped me make friends with others, and you didn't run away when I invited you into my life."

Morgianna felt a swell in her chest, "I feel the same." She told him, his head shot up to look at her head on, and his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Really?" he asked breathlessly.

"Of course, all the time we've spent together, you've become very dear to me, like Alibaba you are one of my most beloved friends."

A tiny noise escaped his throat and the blue of his eyes seemed to dim a little, he squeezed her hand even harder and pulled her closer to him.

"That's not what I'm trying to say. Morgianna, the way I feel about you... you're more than a friend to me."

Every muscle in her body went taught like a guitar string, she felt a heat that had nothing to do with the sun spread all over her skin, what was he saying?

"You really are a magnificent woman! You're strong, beautiful, gentle. I'm not quite sure when it happened but I've fallen-"

"Please stop!" She shouted. No one had ever said these kinds of things to her before, and she'd never imagined hearing them from Hakuryuu, the words were triggering sensations all along her body that she wasn't familiar with.

She'd apologized to him and explained that she didn't know if she felt the same way, the way his face had fallen apart brought tears to her eyes.

"No one's ever said anything like that to me before, so I'm happy. But..." she'd trailed off while wiping her eyes.

Hakuryuu schooled his features and took a few steps back, letting go off her hands. "Please forgive me." he asked in a breathless tone, he wasn't looking at his feet again but his eyes were downcast, "I never meant to make you upset. Please forget I said anything." With that he began walking away and back towards where the others were.

Morgiana felt the shift in his mood and became worried. But he seemed to notice her just as quickly, he forced his face into a smile to calm her, "One of these days I'm going to tell you. I'll do it properly next time, so please don't worry."

They walked back to the others in an awkward silence, not touching.

After that things between them were never quite the same, Morgianna stopped coming over to the Ren house, they both left class a little more quickly than they used to and spent less time talking to each other in the halls.

The divide between the two of them was making her miserable, and what was even worse was the feeling that she had caused it. She said as much to Alibaba one day, while he was helping her train for her upcoming tournament, which was to say he was holding the punching bag steady.

"Don't even think that!" He yelped out as he was knocked to the floor. She'd hit the bag a little harder than she had meant to at the end. Whoops.

"If you don't feel the same way as him then that's just how you feel, it's nothing to feel guilty about." He told her, rubbing the sore spot on his chest. Morgianna came to sit cross legged in front of him.

"It's not that... not exactly. It's just that when he started saying that he- those things all I could think about was the last time someone had told me 'I love you'." She explained quietly.

Alibaba clenched his teeth as he often did at mentions of Jamil, "But you know Hakuryuu is nothing like that."

"I know, but the minute those memories popped into my head I started panicking and-" she cut her self off when she felt Alibaba placing his hands over hers, without her realizing it she'd started wringing them harshly in her lap.

"I just wish I had explained myself better back then. But even still I don't think that would help."

"Well... there's no point worrying about the past, but if you want to make things better from now on then maybe the first thing you should figure out is how you _do_ feel about Hakuryuu."

Morgianna worried her lip as she thought, she thought back on all the time they'd spent together, tried to recreate the feeling that had bloomed in her chest when they'd first held hands. Alibaba maneuvered both their hands so he was holding he hands in the space between their feet, his silent presence was comforting.

"If her were to try and confess to you again. And you were able to keep yourself in the moment, how would you want to react?"

She thought about all the replays of that day she'd rewritten in her mind, ones where she'd done better, ones where she'd done worse, ones where she'd spared his feelings, and ones...

She smiled, "I'd let him tell me he loved me. And I'd hold his hands." And tell him that she thought she felt the same way, even if she wasn't ready to say it quite yet. And he'd understand, he'd wait for her. "I should talk to him." She said, springing up to her feet, Alibaba was still holding onto her hands though,

"I don't know if that'd be the best idea." he warned,

"Why?"

"Well based on what you've told me and... not at all personal experiences it probably took a lot for him to work up the guts for him to even try and tell you how he felt." There was a dimness in Alibaba's eyes that Morgianna saw when he sometimes talked about his home life, but he quickly blinked it away, "And not to be that guy but he is a Ren, being part of that family is an insurance for pride."

"What are you saying?"

"He said he was going to confess to you again right? Maybe you should let him"

Morgiana made a discontented noise.

"You were worried about hurting his feelings right? Think of this as giving him a bone."

She responded with a withering look, Alibaba let out a nervous laugh and asked her to just trust him.

And she had. But as time went on and Hakuryuu said nothing Morgianna couldn't help but wonder, had he changed his mind? She'd always know the damage was done but was it irreversible?

She'd thought the dance would have been the ideal time for him to make his move but what if she was waiting for something that was no longer an opportunity?

Would it be kinder on both of them if she just let him go?


	4. Chapter 4

Kougyoku Ren had never felt ashamed of herself. Well that wasn't exactly true, she'd never been _ashamed_ there had just been times were she'd squeezed her eyes shut, dug her fingers into her hair so harshly there was a good chance her finger nails might have broken through her scalp and struggled to breath around the welt in her throat as she desperately wished she could change the circumstances of her birth. But that's totally different from being ashamed right?

For almost the first decade of her life Kougyoku had been completely confined to the one bedroom apartment she and her mother had lived in. Even though she had never had anything to compare it with Kougyoku had known from a very tender age that life there had been a far cry from happy. The furniture was sparse, one mattress pressed into the corner that the two shared most nights, pilled high with as many blankets as they could afford to spend their money, there were tow cabinets above a small stove that were always on the verge of being empty, the only souce of light came from the neon street signs that filtered in through their window, the walls were thin so that it was always freezing during the colder onths but the weather were they lived always seemed to be muggy and humid so it wasn't to much of an issue. And there was the wardrobe almost hidden away in a cornern, 'custom rebuilt' as her mother had liked to say, to look from the inside where Kougyoku made a nest for herself on the nights she slept in there when her mother was working.

Kougyoku's memories of her mother were the strangest thing, she could remeber certain things that she said, the sound of her voice replaying those words and phrases in her mind on loop, and she could remeber her appearance in detail if her mother was standing still in those memories, but it was like all her memories were stored as Polaroids, captured moments with no context. Kougyoku had the same hair and eye colour as her siblings so she assumed she got those looks from her father, hich meant that the rest of her features, her round face, her height, her long fingers, must have come from her mother. Looking back on her memories Kougyoku could see just how aged her mothers life had made her seem, but when Kougyoku pictured her mothers face as clearly as her memory would let her she could imagine how beautiful she must have been when she was younger.

Her mother died when she was nine years old. At the time Kougyoku had been certain this meant she would be alone in the world for the rest of her life. When the police came to take her mother away they also put her into an orphanage, it hadn't been a big place and there were maybe ten children there including herself but as a child all she could think was that it was that the orphanage was huge compared to her shoe box apartment and she had never been around so many people in her whole life. If she hadn't had her doll to clutch and bury her face into she might have had a panic attack that first night. But apparently fate works in mysterious ways because two weeks later the birth father she'd never met died of a heart attack, leaving his eldest son Ren Kouen as head of the family, his younger brother Koumei had been helping him sort through their fathers finances when they'd discovered annual check deposits made to a woman that they'd never heard of before. Hush money. Something to assure that the Ren reputation wouldn't be smirched by the revelation that the family head had been cheating on his schizophrenic wife. That's how Kougyoku's older brothers found out she existed.

The very next day Kouen appeared in the doorway of the orphanage, to the young girl he'd looked like a titan, tall, proud and invincible. He knelt down in front of her and asked her name, who her mother was, did she know anything about her father? Where had she been living before? How long had she been here?

After all that she'd finally asked in a shy voice, "And... w-who are you?"

"I am Ren Kouen, your older brother." He'd said with all the surety of someone announcing the sun would come up tommorow.

Her dull eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates as she let out a small gasp, "My..." she hadn't even been able to repeat him.

"Your brother. You are Ren Kougyoku and I'm taking you home." And just like that he'd picked her up and taken her out to his car. Sometimes Kougyoku wondered how he had been able to do that, weren't there procedures? Papers and stuff to fill in? But then she'd just shake her head and smile, that was her brother after all doing anything and everything beyond expectations.

Her most vivid memory of her early years was definitely that first time she'd entered her house. It was like something out of a story book, huge and almost fortress like on the outside despite the lush gardens, but the inside was borderline bourgeoisie in it's decadence. Everything was spotless and shinning, the colours red and gold dominated the hallways and communal areas, she'd later see that all the bedrooms and other private areas had been personalized by her siblings. Koumei was the first person she'd met, he was almost as tall as Kouen but unlike her eldest brother her first impression of her most studious sibling had been that he looked a bit like a pigeon, he was kind and welcoming, even apologizing that it had taken this long to find her. He walked along side Kouen giving her a tour of the house, that was when Kouha had come bounding down the stairs. His long hair had been a little messy since this was before he'd started braiding it, his clothes were a little unkempt and he'd had a wild spark in his eye as he came right up to Kougyoku's face, examining her like a bug in a bell jar, she'd been a little scared of him, a fact that was almost laughable now.

"Is this her?" Kouha asked bluntly to no one in particular,

"Kouha." Koumei said in a warning tone.

"Is it true your mother was a whore?" Kouha asked her, ignoring his brother, before anyone could admonish him Kouha's eyes had widened in excitement and he grabbed one of Kougyoku's skinny arms, "Whoa! I can almost see your bones!"

She would learn rather quickly about her brothers love of the odd and slightly broken, she was rather thankful for it, after all it was what had endeared her to him so quickly. After grabbing her arm he had pulled her off to give her his own tour of the house, his favourite area being the gym and connected training area where he informed her she would be helping him practice his kendo. She was thankful to him for introducing her to kendo and fencing, in the early days of being in that house those 'lessons' with Kouha were a sanctuary of something she could understand.

Then the next week she had met her aunt. Gyokouen had darkened the doors she entered through, looking Kougyoku over like something she could pick up with her teeth. She had cornered Kouen in his study, not knowing the children were listening through the vents,

"Do you really think this is wise?" she'd asked in that sickeningly sweet tone, "The poor child might have your fathers hair colour but look at her, walking around this house like a stranger, those nice clothes you got her look like their drowning her, wouldn't it be kinder for the poor dear if she could be somewhere more suited to her."

Kougyoku's stomach tightened uncomfortably at her words, she could feel sweat gathering on the back of her neck. Kouha looked like he wanted to break something.

There was the sound of a chair scrapping against the floor, was it Kouen? Gyokuen? Was she happy? Was he listening to her?

And then Kouen spoke. "She's my sister. Our blood. That's all that matters."

Kougyoku's heart swelled up in her chest and her tears filled with eyes, she'd clutched onto Kouha's arm and tried to keep from openly sobbing in happiness.

The next day Hakuei and Hakuryuu had come over. Back before Hakuryuu had lost his arm and his skin had been burnt he had been a different child. Still quiet and awkward but the feeling of a simmering iron and hostility beneath it all had been born in him yet.

Hakuryuu had seemed almost as nervous to meet Kougyoku as she was to meet him, happy behind his sister.

Hakuei was gorgeous and elegant. Kougyoku was in awe of her instantly. But then the unthinkable happened and Kouen had bowed his head to greet her, she had never seen her brother introduce himself to someone in a way that didn't involve direct eye contact. That was the first time in her life Kougyoku had felt true jealousy, she had decided right then and there with all the conviction a nine year old could conjure that she would never like Hakuei.

That was until the next time her cousins had come over, Kouen had asked Kouha and Kougyoku (who was quickly becoming skilled with a sword) to help Hakuryuu with his fencing techniques. The two of them ran drills with him until he was breathless and he left to take a bathroom break, she and Kouha then decided to have a little sparring match, half way through she ducked down to avoid him landing a hit on her and his sword went straight through her haid that had long since fallen out of it's ponytail, all the duck tape Kouha had wrapped around the tip clung on to a large amount of her hair and when he pulled it back she screamed in pain as she felt it rip from her scalp. Kouha had just tried telling her she should cut her hair short which prompted a new flood of tears from his sister, but Hakuei had just lead her upstairs to her bedroom and set her on the edge of her bed as her cousin began softly combing her hair out and re-styling it into the fashion she wore to this day.

"You're brothers all mean well but they're still only boys, so if you ever feel like you just need another girl to talk to know that I'm right here for you." her cousin had told her with a warm smile and a hand on her shoulder. Kougyoku decided that maybe she did like Hakuei.

And then she met Judar. It was the first time she'd been over to her cousins house and there he was, same age as her with red eyes and a long thick black braid, no obvious reason to be there but struting around the house like he owned the place. Their first meeting hadn't gone smoothly.

"Is Gyokuen the one who braided your hair like that?" She asked him.

"Eh?" Had been his response.

"I heard Koumei say something about her grooming you. Is that what he meant?"

An silence wrapped around the two of them like a noose.

And then Judar started cackling cruelly, "Geez, I knew you were ugly but I didn't know you were dumb ya old hag!" He clutched his stomach as he laughed.

Kougyoku's face immediately burned with indignation, "You shouldn't say things like that!" She'd screamed at him.

Then his eyes had widened in fascination, he'd jumped directly in front of her and grabbed both her cheeks in his hands, his mouth split open in a grin. "Do that again!" He demanded.

"Do what?" She asked, her voice slightly morphed by his grip on her cheeks.

"That thing with your face, the way it changed completely, just like that!" He seemed thrilled with this little discovery he'd made about her.

And from that point on Judar's prime source of entertainment had become seeing what expressions he could tease out of her. it might have antagonized her against him had she not noticed the rapid changes in his mood as well, from one day to the next and sometimes even in the middle of conversations Judar's manners would flip to extreme opposites of what they had just been. She remembered distinctly one day he'd disappeared into one of the dark rooms deep inside the house, having become so used to his presence that she didn't know what to do with herself when he wasn't hovering somewhere near by, Kougyoku had gone looking for him. She'd found him curled up on the floor clutching his head, his body shaking with silent sobs. She'd knelled down beside him and tried to coax him out of his stupor but the only reaction she got was when she had tried to leave and he'd thrown his head onto her lap, burying his face in her stomach. They sat like that for twenty minutes, Kougyoku rubbing soothing circles on his back.

 _Perhaps this is why he teases me so much,_ she had thought back then, _it makes him feel like we're the same._

Thenwhen she was fourteen Gyokuen had burned her cousins house down, killing herself and her husband, Hakuryuu had just made it out alive, scarred as he was.

Gyokuen's schizophrenia had been well hidden from the rest of the family, but the more Hakuryuu, Hakuei and especially Judar talked about what she was like behind closed doors the more sense it made.

The three of them of course moved into the Ren mansion, Hakuei took a place opposite Koumei at Kouen's side (a left hand woman?), Hakuryuu spent most of his early days recovering from surgery and adjusting to his new prosthetic. And Judar caused havoc for the three eldest Ren's by refusing to get onto a steady schedule regarding the medication he apparently needed to take but Gyokuen had often withheld from him because 'it took away his powers!'

After the first year and a bit life began to assimilate into their version of normal. Kouha, Hakuryuu, Judar and herself were all home schooled so they all became fairly tight knit, Judar argued he didn't need the lessons since he was a genius (he actually was and is.) but he hung around as usual.

The fact that the two of them lived together now didn't really change the way they treated each other, though it did add new things, now she helped him apply his eye shadow in the morning, now they would go into the city center together on the weekends sometimes, now whenever the hell in Judar's head got to be too much for him he would sneak into Kougyoku's bedroom and she'd pull the covers over both of them and rub soothing circles into his back.

If anyone knew about that last part they didn't mention or question it. Just like they never questioned how the two of them always seemed to sit near enough to each other that any touching could be done casually, just like they didn't question the look Judar got on his face when Kougyoku developed quite the visible crush on Kouen's buisness rival who would later become their principle.

 _No,_ Kougyoku thought to herself as she sat down for dinner with Judar and the rest of her family, _I have never been ashamed of myself, or my past. How could I be when it's what lead me here?_

"Hey old hag, what are you smiling about?"


End file.
